Wringer



Jan. 5, 1943. N. L. ETTEN 2,307,367

WRINGER I Original Filed July 13 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 L 4&1. J

Ff 6;, Z INVENTOR.

BY w w ATTO-RNEY.

N. L. ETTEN Jan. 5, 1943.

WRINGER Original Filed July 13, 1936 5 Sheet s-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY.

N. L. ETTEN Jan. 5, 1943.

WRINGER Original Filed July 13, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 6

INVENTOR. MAM/1% W w ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 5, 1943 WRINGER Nicholas L. Etten, Waterloo, Iowa Application July 13, 1936, Serial No. 90,324 Renewed June 17, 1940 8 Claims.

This invention relates to clothes wrlnger and particularly to mechanism for safety release. pressure adjustment, roll stop, and reset.

One object of the invention is to provide novel means for simply and quickly adjustingthe roll pressure for selective (low, medium and high) roll pressure when the wrlnger is reset into operative position.

Another object is to provide a clutching mechanism cooperating with the safety release whereby the rolls are stopped from rotation responsively to the operation of the safety release and again started in rotation when the wrlnger is reset into the closed or operating position.

Other objects and improvements will be disclosed by reference to the following description and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the complete wrlnger and head.

Fig. 2 is a sectional front elevation disclosing the interior relation and arrangement of the parts.

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section of the head and companion parts of the wrlnger on a larger scale to better disclose the mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a plan sectional view of the wrlnger on the section lines 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view on section lines 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation view of the wrlnger drive gear and coupling on the large scale of Fig. 3 and taken in a plane represented by line 6-6 in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Fig. '7 is a plan view of the boss on the upper frame on the line 1-1 of Fig. 1 but on the larger scale of Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section of the pressure adjustive mechanism on the line 88 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1 it will be noted that the wrlnger and head are designed as a unit rather than as two units, wrlnger and head.

The general structure of thewringer and head includes a lower frame 40, and a top frame l0, normally mounted in slightly spaced relation, as shown at "la in full lines in Fig. 1 and dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3. The lower frame 40 extends laterally from and is carried by a gear head 48, by the intermedium of a gear head extension q ventional leaf spring 32, as shown in Fig. 2. The

5 24, being splined thereto, and shiftable into clutch engagement with the respective gears 44 and 45 by means of a handle 41 mounted in a side of the gear head 46. The lower roll 4i is driven by the gear 43 by way of any suitable coupling means The top frame i0 is supported on the lower frame 40 by means of upstanding extensions 40a .and 40b of said lower frame, as shown in Fig. 2. The extension 40a has a notch l2 therein at the left in Fig. 2 in position to receive a cross rivet l3, fixed to the outer end of the top frame iii to form a pivotal connection between said outer end of the top frame I0 and the extension 40a of the lower frame 40.

The inner end of the topframe ID (at the right in Fig. 2) is supported for swinging and bodily movement relative to the extension 40b, by a pair of links i5-l5' (Fig. 3). The links |5l5' are pivotally connected with the top frame l0 by a 25. cross rivet 16, at one end of said links, while the opposite ends thereof are pivotally connected by studs I4, i4. with the extension 40b of the lower frame. The cross rivet I6 also pivotally supports on the top frame iii a reset cap lever H, as shown in Fig. 3. The cap lever l I also rigidly carries lugs Ila connected by pivot 49 with a pair of links I'I, ll, which in turn are pivotally connected at one end on the cross rivet l6, which is carried by the extensions 40b.

A bell-crank latch lever i8 pivotally mounted on rivet i9 is latchable on a cross bar 20 fixed "to the gear housing and is tensioned towards latching position by torsion spring 2|. The inside endof bell latch lever bears against safety release cap 22 holding it upward thru a slot in the reset cap. The inner end of the top frame H) is held normally in locked position by the engagement of the latch lever l8 with the cross bar 20.

A bracket 23 is fixed to inside of reset cap it ,and positioned to hold the vertical wrlnger drive spline shaft 24 in its low or operating position whereby the upper clutch member 25 engages the lower or driven clutch member 26. The compression, spring 21 bears against the ends of the driver and driven shafts 24', 24, respectively, and is arranged to separate the clutch members as shown in the dotted outline in Fig. 3 when the reset cap is released; also shown in dotted outline. The driven clutch member 25 is slidably and flexibly lower roll 4| is driven by conventional reverse mounted on the shaft 24 by a pin and elongated 2 aaoassv fnism carried ,by said re-set ca for disconnecting hole and tensioned downward by .compression spring 28 in order to prevent a mismatching of. the clutches such as would prevent the wringer from closing by permitting the driven clutch 2| to rise until matching occurs.

The pressure adJusting cap II is mounted on the upper frame In and carries a stamping ll provided with a series or sets of steps or notches arranged to bear on spring 32 to give three variations of roll pressure corresponding to the low, medium and high or other markings on the adlusting cap.

With this general description of the parts, their functions will be understood by the following description of the operation of the wringer.

Assuming the wringer closed and in operation, by pressing downward on the safety cap 22, the bell latch lever it is disengaged from shaft 20 allowing the upper frame, to move upward under spring pressure but constrained to a particular movement by the links lI-IS' and l'l-l'l' whereby the inner end of the upper frame first moves upward and then outward whereby the outer end of the upper frame is released by the disengagement of shaft is from notch l2.

During this movement the bracket 23 has moved away from contact with the upper end of the shaft 24 and the clutch members 25 and 26 have been separated by the action of spring 21, thus stopping the rotation of the wringer rolls.

Now the wringer can be easily reset by engaging the end bolt it in notch l2 and depressing the reset cap ll into closed position. The powerful toggle lever action of the link mechanism greatly facilitates this operation.

Having thus described my invention, I now claim as new:

1. In a wringer of the class described, the combination of a relatively stationary wringer frame, a pair of co-operative rolls mounted in said stationary frame, a head mounted on said frame, roll driving gears mounted in said head, an upper frame pivotally connected to said stationary frame in a manner whereby said stationary and upper frames may be disconnected by longitudinal movement of the upper frame, links connecting one end of the upper frame to the stationary frame. a re-set cap also connected to the stationary frameand to said upper frame by pivoted links, a latch member on said head, a latch mechanism carried by said re-set cap and cooperative with said latch member for locking the upper frame to said head and stationary frame, a safety button carried by the re-set cap and cooperative with said latch mechanism for releasing the same, and mechanism in the wringer head cooperating with the re-set cap upon movement of the cap whereby to control the rotation of the wringer rolls.

2. In a clothes wringer having a head, a driving mechanism therein, a relatively stationary frame, wringer rolls mounted in said frame, an upper frame carrying means normally pressing said rolls into engagement with one another, l'nks pivotally connecting said upper frame and stationary frame; a re-set cap pivotally associated with said upper frame, links plvotally connecting said re-set cap with said stationary frame, a lock mechanism between said cap and said head, a bar and notch connection between said upper frame at one end and said stationary frame at a place spaced from the last said pivotal connection, means associated with said re-set cap said drive means when said lock mechanism is open and for connecting said drive means when said lock is closed.

3. In a wringer of the class described, a roll carrying frame including a roll driving gear supporting head and a pressure spring, roll driving gearingin said head, a roll-pressure spring com- Dressing cap mounted on said frame and movable relatively thereto, a reset lever operatively connccted with said frame and with said cap, cooperating latch devices carried by said lever and said head for retaining said cap and lever in roller-spring compressing position, a manually operable device for effecting disengagement of said latch devices from each other, clutch mechanism in said head, and means carried by the reset lever for effecting actuation of said clutch mechanism. responsively to movements of said lever.

4. In a wringer of the class described, a roll carrying frame including a roll driving gear sup porting head and a pressure spring, roll driving gearing in said head, a roll pressure spring compressing cap mounted on said frame and movable relatively thereto, a reset lever operatively connected with said frame and with said cap, cooperating latch devices carried by said lever and said head for retaining said cap and lever in roller-spring compressing position, a manually operable device for effecting disengagement of said latch devices from each other, clutch mechanism associated with driving gearing for throwing the same into and out of driving relation to said rolls, and means on said lever for effecting actuation of said clutch mechanism to cause said gearing to drive said rolls when said latch devices are inter-engaged.

5. In a wringer of the class described, a roll carrying frame including a roll driving gear supporting head and a pressure spring, roll driving gearing in said head, a roll pressure spring compressing cap mounted on said frame and movable relatively thereto, a reset lever operatively connected with said frame and with said cap. co-

normally maintaining the same inactive to drive for releasing said lock mechanism, and mecharolls when said latch devices are inter-engaged.

6. In a wringer and gear head adapted to be mounted on a domestic washing machine, a supporting frame, rolls with pressure means mounted in the frame, pressure release and reset mechanism including pressure adjustment means mounted on the frame, roll driving means mounted in the head, said driving means including a vertically slidable shaft, a clutch mounted on said shaft, and means co-acting with the shaft and pressure release and reset mechanism to slide the shaft and actuate the clutch to engage the driving means when roll pressure is reset and to release the driving means when roll pressure is released.

7. In a wringer and gear head adapted to be mounted on a domestic washing machine, a supporting frame, rolls with pressure means mounted in the frame, pressure release and reset mechanism including pressure adjustment means mounted on the frame, roll driving means mounted in the head, said driving means including a vertically slidable shaft, a spring retained clutch member slidably mounted on the shaft, and

means co-acting with the shaft and pressure re- 10 drive.

means mounted in the frame, pressure release and reset mechanism including pressure adjustment means mounted on the frame, roll driving and roll rotation control mechanism mounted in the head, said driving mechanism including a shiftable splined drive shaft, a clutch slidably mounted on said shaft, and means co-acting with the shaft, pressure release and reset mechanism, and the clutch to control the clutch and the roll NICHOLAS L. ET'I'EN. 

